Al Sharpton blasted for calling Harvard president's resignation an attack on 'every Black woman': 'Go away'
Ex-ESPN host Sage Steele tells Jesse Watters that Sharpton's rhetoric makes her 'angry'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rev. Al Sharpton took heat from ex-ESPN host Sage Steele after he claimed Harvard President Claudine Gay's resignation is "an attack on every Black woman" in America who has "put a crack in the glass ceiling."
"I just wish he would go away," Steele told host Jesse Watters.
"Almost every time Al Sharpton speaks, I get angry because Al Sharpton pretends that he knows what every single person of color in this country thinks, believes how they should live, how they should act, how they should vote."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Steele claimed Sharpton is the wrong person to be speaking for anything "right now."
HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY RESIGNS AMID ANTISEMITISM, PLAGIARISM CONTROVERSIES
Rev. Al Sharpton speaks onstage during the Essence Festival of Culture at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on July 2, 2023. (Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Essence)
"Remember Martin Luther King, Mr. Sharpton?" she continued. "I think you do judge me by the content of my character, not the color of my skin. What happened with Claudine Gay? There are some character issues, which is why she was forced to step down."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gay came under fire in the media and from congressional Republicans — perhaps most notably Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — for her congressional testimony during an antisemitism hearing on Capitol Hill last month where she, along with the presidents of MIT and UPenn, failed to adequately condemn antisemitism witnessed on their college campuses.
Gay announced her resignation Tuesday afternoon, noting she will return to the Harvard faculty despite widespread plagiarism accusations still being leveled at her.
CRITICS CHEER RESIGNATION OF ‘ANTISEMITIC PLAGIARIST’ HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY: ‘BYE FELICIA’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned on Tuesday afternoon. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
"Better late than never, I guess, right?" Steele said. "And the fact that it took the plagiarism instead of what happened with Elise Stefanik is disturbing in its own right, but when you look through the entire letter that Harvard sent to its community… they mentioned she has taken responsibility for some mistakes, but what did they do that stood out to me the most? They denounced the racist attacks that were apparently coming Claudine Gay's way, as they should. Any racist attack should be denounced.
"What about Claudine Gay herself when she was being asked how many times by Elise Stefanik, ‘Is it wrong? Do you denounce any antisemitic comments, any about the genocide of Jewish students on your campus?' And she couldn't even answer that. Clearly, she refused to answer it," she continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former ESPN host Sage Steele ripped Rev. Al Sharpton during an appearance on "Jesse Watters Primetime." (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Steele said she "[doesn't] have much sympathy" for Gay and added that she feels no need to defend her because of her skin color.
"Character to me is so much more concerning," she added.
Gay's testimony and alleged plagiarism sparked backlash from donors from both sides of the aisle, including billionaire Democrats Seth Klarman and Lloyd Blankfein and Republican-backing Harvard alum Kenneth Griffin, who told The New York Times he had given the institution more than half a billion dollars.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}